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Yūko Ichihara
Yūko Ichihara (壱原侑子, Ichihara Yūko) ''is a fictional character from the manga, ''xxxHOLiC, created by the manga team Clamp. Yūko, an enigmatic, powerful and fashionable sorceress, is one of the principal characters in xxxHOLiC ''and a very important person in the storyline of ''Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. She is known by many names throughout the multi-verse, most notably as "The Dimension Witch" — a title that reflects her unique reach in time and space. She has also been called The Far Eastern Witch as one of her aliases. However, she also claims that her name, "Yūko Ichihara", is just an adopted name, meaning her true name is unknown. Appearance Yūko appears as a long thin woman with long black hair and red eyes. She always wears a kimono at her home; though if she is going outdoors, she would wear a more revealing outfit. Gallery of Yūko Ichihara File:GE9945.jpg File:250px-Yuuko_holic.png File:008vs6.jpg File:284009_107622.jpg yuuko.jpg File:Yuko_!.jpg File:Yuko 23.png pic.jpg HHAF copy copy.jpg Personality The eccentricity of this character confuses the reader because, her guidance of Watanuki grants him a state of spiritual and paranormal awareness of great importance. Therefore, some of her resolutions are meaningless at first, but eventually the plot reveals the origin of her wise decision. Many times she seeks to act as a spectator, but in most cases, her intervention yields results that govern the speed and dynamics of the plot. Her histrionics confuses Watanuki, but end up involving him in serious situations, in which Watanuki, is driven by it as part of it. She's fun and respectful of all beings, being these kind or not. According to the manga, good and bad are concepts that humans decide, and these do not apply to non-human. This kind of thinking occurs when, for example, she decides not to intervene to prevent someone from their mistakes or endangerment, XXXHOLiC manga volume 1, chapter 1 .since "everything is a matter of fate" (hitzusen, 费, 'hitzusen') . Though she acts sarcastic, bossy and annoying towards Watanuki, it's quite evident that she cares for him, as it was seen when she died;'' "my wish... is for you to continue existing". Sometimes she uses her lecherous side to disturb Watanuki (to her great amusement). She also loves alcohol, which traduces in sending Watanuki to the pharmacy everytime she's got a hangover. As the plot advances, it's obvious that her scandalous behaviour is nothing more than a cover up to avoid Watanuki from realizing the gravity of the situation around him. Yūko received many nicknames because she never revealed her real name due to a kind of spiritual self, because, as she herself says, who knows the name of another person can control it. Biography ''See also: Yūko's Shop Yūko is the owner of a mysterious shop in Tokyo. She is a dealer in wishes as she will grant the sincere wish of anyone who is willing to make an appropriate sacrifice in return; the price is always equivalent to the weight of the wish, no more, no less. In the case of Watanuki Kimihiro, who sought to be rid of the evil spirits that plague him, the price was a long period of frequently demeaning servitude. As a result, she now has Watanuki as a sort of "personal assistant" to clean, cook, and perform other tasks she considers beneath her. Yūko is apparently one of the few people with the power to send people to multiple worlds, such that she has been aptly named the Dimension Witch. The travelers Syaoran, Fay D. Flourite and Kurogane, the protagonists of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, are sent to her from their respective home worlds in order to gain this ability. However, to gain the ability to traverse dimensions and the related abilities embodied in a being known as Mokona Modoki, they are required to pay a price that equates the power required to grant the wish. Her role in the story is extremely important since she's not only an infinite information source to Watanuki, she also connects the other stories to the rest of the main characters. Yūko is Watanuki's boss, who performs domestic chores for her and the plot suggests that she has a strong connection with his future, for which she keeps Watanuki close and searches for him whenever he's in trouble to protect him. This is a connection she shares with Doumeki who's always by his side in the hardest moments due to his ability for exorcism. When it comes to the gastronomical requests, she always challenges Watanuki to prepare the most varied dishes, which the boy makes without much problems unless some complaints, since he is very good in the kitchen. Yūko feels something very special for Watanuki and asks before dissapearing to keep on existing, to which the boy says yes and that he'll wait until she returns. In the shop live two child-like beings created with Yuko's magic known as Maru and Moro, whose full names, Marudashi and Morodashi, translated roughly, mean streaking and flashing, a play on the "xxx" in the title. According to Yūko they cannot leave the shop or touch the Mokonas because they have no souls. The two have the function of grounding the shop to its unique location between dimensions. In later chapters, Moro and Maru are seen sleeping and Yūko comments that they are focusing on keeping the house in place. Apart from this function, the two greet visitors, assist Yūko, and annoy Watanuki. Powers and Abilities She's a sorceress of great power and spiritual energy, who receives multiple adjectives, but she is commonly known as The Witch of Dimensions, due to the travel she sent on the characters of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, in search of Sakura's feathers. Besides the ability to travel in time, she is powerful enough to handle from dangerous objects to protective seals, create powerful barriers to protect (and even instruct Watanuki create them, as she did on the night of the Hundred stories ghost / horror (Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai) and then sending Mokona to his side to play with words to block spirits in a full moon night, and she can also talk on good terms with any character of the nonhuman realm, including ghosts, gods and spirits among others, which often saves Watanuki from death. Among her other abilities beside granting wishes, transversing dimensions, she can also create gods for other worlds (which was a wish made by Ashura of Tsubasa), manipulate time (demonstrated when she had Mokona transport the Tsubasa group from Shara to its ancient past of Shura), and speak through Maru and Moro as well through other people's minds. In the anime, when she sends a letter to Watanuki, her responses to him are in "real-time", depending on Watanuki's reaction. In the xxxHolic movie, she gives a glimpse of how powerful she can be when she faces the Collector, even though she does not use any offensive attacks. She effortlessly dodges most of his attacks and is seemingly unscathed from a direct hit. All of Yūko's customers must pay such prices in order to grant their wishes, which can be no more or no less than the one demanded, or else harm will come to one's way. She is not one to tell the customer the most direct way to solve their problems because in the end, it can only be solved with that person's own realization and resolution to change themselves. Often if the person lacks the sincere determination to change themselves, an ironic disaster -that even Watanuki, who wishes to stop them from hurting themselves, cannot stop- will inevitably befall them. In Volume 8 when the Tengu-Karasu seek her help to save the Zashiki-warashi, their payment; the Tengu Fan was more than the required price. To balance it out, Yūko sent out Watanuki to assist them. Her abilities are not without limits and may almost seem a curse as it appears that she is unable to do anything for anyone or grant any gift (other than feelings) without it becoming a binding transaction. She has a knowledge of all types of magic objects that exist, many of which are in her store. Relationships 'Clow Reed - ' Her relationship with Clow Reed is somewhat ambiguous. They made the two Mokonas together using their magical abilities. They also met the original Mokona of Cephiro together in the other world. Clow Reed is the one who wished for Yuuko to stay alive thus, stopping her time. In the first chapters of xxxHOLiC manga, he is being called by different names with Yuuko. In some fansubs, it has been translated that 'Yuuko hasn't met Clow Reed' (xxxHOLiC chapter 3) but in Del Rey translations, it is Sakura Kinomoto (talking about her first staff in Card Captor Sakura) who she hasn't met. It is been hinted that Clow and Yūko had somewhat a love relationship before. 'Watanuki Kimihiro -' Yuuko has a motherly figure with Watanuki. Some fans hinted that Yūko is Watanuki's real mother before it is revelead that "Syaoran's parents are also Watanuki's parents". She teaches Watanuki valuable lessons about the world and gives wise advice. She is Watanuki's employer, also a comrade. Yūko cares a lot for Watanuki, helping him and giving him guidance even though he does not realise it. Sometimes Yūko helps Watanuki without him knowing it. In chapter 168 of the manga, Yūko talks about Watanuki and Syaoran. She says that Watanuki now "wants to be here," and because of her help, Fei Wong Reid wasn't able to find Watanuki. She also says (quote): "Maru, Moro, because we love Watanuki, we'll do our best to protect this store, so that we can always be together with Watanuki." In xxxHOLiC Rou, it has been revelead that Yūko's wish is just for his existence, for him to continue on existing. He stays in the shop until he meet Yūko again. 'Mokona Modoki '- Yūko and Black Mokona (Larg) are good friends. They share similar interests in food (they love snacks and sake) and can usually be found together. Mokona is usually seen on Yūko's shoulder or sitting beside her on the poarch drinkking with her. Yūko and Mokona also seem to be interested in the same activites. They were both very excited to do the 100 Ghost Stories and the snowball fight along with other things. Yūko sometimes also refers to Mokona as her "drinking partener." 'Kitsune '- She gave Kitsune and his son a birdcage. [[Sprite Cat|'Sprite Cat' Akari - ]] The two are good friends and they have sake together. [[Princess Tsubasa|Princess Tsubasa''' ]]- Also known as the real/original Sakura. Her body was kept by Yūko for a long time, without Fei Wong knowing. As stated in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Yūko also suffered the same fate as Sakura, that she had her time severed in all dimensions and now, her time would flow once more. Tsubasa Li -''' He was sent by his parents to Yūko because her mother dreamed of someone needing his help. He was then sent to Clow Country and met Princess Tsubasa. He then realized that the princess was marked by a seal of death and made a vow to protect or remove the princess' death of seal. He was then returned in Yūko's shop badly wounded after a battle with Fei Wong. He made a wish to return to Clow Country to fulfill his promise, with a payment of him unable to meet his parents ever again. Trivia *Her true name is not yet revealed. *She has a past relationship with Clow Reed. *She believes that there is no coincidence in the world, but there is only hitsuzen (destiny,fate) *At her verge of death, Clow accidentally wished for her eyes to open once more, thus, stopping her time. *Her customers and clients no longer remember her as she has died. *She is the one Fei Wong Reed wants to revive completely. *She has her specific clothing that she always wear whenever she shows up in Tsubasa Chronicles. *In Horitsuba Gakuen, she is a chairwoman and a Literature teacher who always climbs through the window. References Category:Characters Category:xxxHolic Characters Category:Article stubs Category:XxxHolic Protagonist